Relative PERSONALITIES???

This is something that I got curious about during my college days.

To begin with, I studied in an All Girls Catholic institution for 14 years…my entire school-life. And that too most of them who were like moi, in the sense they too started off with me in kindergarten and lasted with the same set through junior college. Hence I was only exposed to this small sample set of aforementioned specimens. So Engg College brought me closer to so many more species and that too of varied types.

I am a person who is completely introverted. I wouldn’t open my mouth and talk to strangers unless and until they approach me with atleast a “hi” or a “hello”. This is the reason why the proclamation in my profile in the “About Me” section was put in. Almost all of my first-opinion has had me classified as an ARROGANT SNOB who DOESN’T TALK TO OTHERS.

Could anything be more unfair? :(

Anyways, to set the record straight; almost all of them who took the first step with their “hi” and “hello” realized how misled they were by my silence. And these have also been the people who were patient and slowly drew out from under many layers of self-doubt the real person that is me. And these are also the people with whom I am still in touch and still call as my “small circle of friends”.

The problem was that this opinion changed only for “almost all” of them. The rest of them stuck to their pre-conceived notions of my personality judging only by my introverted behaviour, which I really cannot blame much. So, big deal… who cares!!!

But I digress…to come back to the main thread...it did form the basis of a very interesting study for me that stemmed mostly only from the curiosity to know how the same person could be so different to different people.

So partly because of the reason stated above and partly because I had to come up with something nice for my college magazine, I decided to put pen to paper about this “thought” that pretty much intrigued me in my alone-moments. What you will now read below, is an “updated” version of what went into my college magazine.

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THE THEORY OF RELATIVE PERSONALITIES

I have noticed that a person puts up a different front to different people. Now, please pay attention…not different “faces” but different “fronts”. As in each person seems to bring out a different “personality” from within him/her.

If you tried to experiment a little and tried to switch this behavioural-pattern between the people you know; you would be looked up and down a few times, a few unbelievable blinks and angry glares are sure to ensue too and your well-being would be enquired about in stage whispers!

The million dollar question is this: Why are we so different to different people? Why aren’t we the same to all and sundry? We are the same person no matter with whom we are, then why this change of “personality”? Does this mean we are hypocritical? What is equally astounding is the number of varied stances we take with different people depending on the circumstances.

What I’m really trying to say is that though we are basically one and the same but we have dazzling dimensions to our personality which are brought to the fore depending upon the people and the vibes that we “intuitively” pick up from them.

People, to whom we have a liking, bring out the best in our nature. Ever wondered why you develop an instant dislike to a particular person whom you have just met, for no rhyme or reason? This is what people label as “intuition”. We all have an “intuitive” nature that guides us through, whenever we meet new people, and it is this “intuition” that is responsible for the “apparent” change in our “personality”: when we meet-up with our old pals or otherwise even when we strike-up a balance with a new-found friend.

Now I can’t say much about others ‘cause I haven’t really done some research or random survey across a good sample population. But looking down into myself I can say this: I am all basically three people: one, what I am to my family; two, what I am to my friends and three, what I really am; “The real I, Me, Myself!”

We change our personalities to suit the other person(s) expectation(s) in such a subtle way that it is totally indiscernible to most others and even us! There is a sort of split-personality or alter-ego automaton within us, which works at incredible speeds that’ll even baffle a super-computer! It is this automaton that switches between the myriad personalities within us to suit the company and the circumstances.

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I don’t claim or state anything in the above post as FACT; I just wanted to pen down my own experience with the people whom I have met in this journey of mine so far. Neither do I claim that this is the single-most truth of behavioural patterns amongst people. It’s my blog and this is just one of my ramblings that I wanted to write about. :)

"I taw a puddy tat"

It's just another day in the never-ending routine that my life is; I am home from office waiting for my other friends while the clock ticks away the seconds. Now, it is very important that you get the picture right 'cause otherwise the ending will be totally lost. So, picture this:

I am sitting on a small foot-stool beside my cot with my laptop balanced on the matress. After kicking-off my sandals I stretch my legs luxuriously beneath the cot to let it relax a bit after the loooong walk home from the bus stop. I get busy pretty soon checking out my mails and laughing to myself at some stupid pics in a friend's album. In the middle of all this Mai arrives and as usual we start our lite-gossip of all things under the sun. She then leaves to freshen up and well I am still not budging my generous self off the foot-stool and get busy again with my mails.

Suddenly, I feel a little furry scratch on my right shin. I share my room with a few thousand mosquitoes, so I really didn't bother. After a fraction of a second my stupid brain realised that mosquitoes aren't in anyway whatsoever furry. Curious, I lift the end of the bed-cover that drapes over the edges of my narrow-little bed and....

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I see an evil white cat with green eyes looking at me from under the cot. I continued to scream as I jumped up on my roomie's cot all the while looking at the evil cat. It tried to advance but I guess the decibel level of my scream pretty much sealed any such option. It turned swinging its tail and with a contemptuous glance over its shoulder (Do cats have shoulders?), it sauntered out of the room. Along the corridor I could see Mai match my decibel level in an equally loud scream as the evil white cat quickened its steps to run past her and outside the door.

You know it's not that I don't like cats...It's just that I hate cats. I just so positively loathe them. I cannot stand the sight of a cat. People who know me wonder how I can call myself leonine when I can't even make my peace with a domestic cat. If I ever happen to see a cat lurking in my vicinity, I feel like its a living evil manifestation of my deepest darkest fears stalking me. It positively gives me the creeps!

After a few seconds, I realised that i had been screaming non-stop and stopped gasping for breath. Mai then rushed into my room asking if I was OK and lifting a shaking finger towards the door I whispered: I TAW A PUDDY TAT!





DISCLAIMER:
* This post is not meant in any way whatsoever to hurt the sentiments of the people who love cats as pets, animals and companions in general.
* It is just a tale of a girl who has her little fetishes.
* If this post has been disturbing in any way to cat-lovers around the world, I sincerely apologise.
* And inspite of this, If people are still angry at me then I know for sure that I am going to be re-born as a cat in my next birth. *GULP* :(

The First time I...

2 years 3months and 15 days...

I'd settled in Bangalore for that long and on that fateful 15th day I finally went Bowling. That was one of my first's and the next one being that I went to Leela Palace. I know...I know... its not big deal and pretty stupid, but then thinking about it later really hit me on how much time had actually passed since I had settled in this city. GOSH! It can't be that long surely! But it was...

I'm not the type who parties every Friday night through the weekends. Neither am I the type who has friends who do that. So *SIGH* I guess that explains my current predicament. The fact that something so stupid got me pretty excited like a kid was just truuuuly pathetic.

I went there with two other friends; VJ and MSS...both of whom were thankfully experienced. *PHEW!* And they knew the routine too...so I was saved the embarassment of being caught doing something stupid. We had to wait for about 30 mins as we sat around in the lounge talking and enjoying the loud music. Finally, our turns came and we went to pick out our shoes. God! I can't even begin to describe the stench in that room!!! I tried to pick out a clean looking shoe while at the same time trying to decide on the most appropriate size that wouldn't send me sprawling on the floor. In the end, we emerged shoe-clad and ready for the game. We were assigned LANE 1 with our own scorecard screen and the whole enchilada.

I started first with the other two teaching me on the number of the ball that I should choose, how to hold it, how to balance and then finally let go. Lucky for me, the first one dindn't go for the gutter. So...YAY!!!

But, many others did. :(

It was less of an embarassment that at the end of the day, the scorecard looked like this:

And I actually managed to get a decent score!!! :)



P.S. : In the pic, "A" is me!!!!